1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tools, instruments, and implements used in the medical field, and particularly to a manual dental instrument for elevating and luxating or loosening teeth in preparation for extraction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although modern medical science and technology have greatly improved the ability of dentists and other medical professionals to retain the natural teeth for their patients, from time to time it is still necessary to extract a natural tooth. Such tooth extractions must still be accomplished by hand, using manual tools for the most part. Accordingly, a number of different tools and instruments have been developed in the past, for extracting a tooth or preparing a tooth for extraction.
Most of these instruments used for the preparation of extraction, i.e., luxating or loosening the tooth, are shaped or contoured to provide only a single contact point, or at most a single short line of contact, between the tooth and the instrument. The resulting very high localized pressure can often result in the tooth breaking before the root has been loosened sufficiently to facilitate extraction. When this occurs, the dentist or dental professional is left with a considerably more complex and time-consuming operation to remove the remaining tooth. This additional work results in additional trauma for the patient.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus, a dental instrument solving the aforementioned problems is desired.